Vehicle mode is a futuristic car transport. Of course, as you can probably tell from the above picture, Ultra Magnus is basically a recolored Optimus Prime cab with a different trailer. The thing is, the cab looks entirely too small when compared to the trailer. Car transports do NOT have that large of trailers at all... It actually looks like you're mixing and matching two different toys, and I don't like that. At least he can fit up to four deluxe-sized cars on him in this mode, though. Magnus has two missile-firing pieces on the front of his cab, but not that they've had to go and elongate the missiles to fit current safety standards, they look stupid. Grrr... You also have nowhere to store his robot mode fists, his hand-held gun, or his head piece, or his chest piece.
    Ultra Magnus' "regular" robot mode- never ever seen on the show- is basically just the Optimus Prime cab toy, but white with a smidge of blue. Rather boring colors, but otherwise I have the same comments here as I have about the cab portion of the Prime toy: This mode is pretty darn articulated for a G1 toy- he can move at the shoulders, elbows, feet, knees, and hips (although there's no forward movement in the latter two areas). Which makes him one of the few G1 toys you can actually put in a "running" pose. His arms are a bit wimpy-looking, though, especially when compared to his large chest. His fists you also just attach to his arms- they're seperate pieces- which I think is kinda weak, myself. The diecast metal bits are part of his toes and chest.
    Ultra Magnus' "super" robot mode, in which he combines with his trailer, is the one we're more familiar with. It's a step down from the cab toy in terms of looks, though, especially when compared to his huge lower feet. He has a very blank, vacant stare, and he's basically just a rectangle with arms and a head- his legs look entirely too much like they're just one big leg. All he can move are his arms at the shoulders and elbows. His thin upper legs don't help the look much, either. However, I do like the long white rectangular pillars coming out the top of his arms- they certainly accentuate this mode. And his gun can be held in both robot modes! Nifty!
    Ultra Magnus is a white Prime that can combine with his trailer. Which really isn't a bad idea. Too bad he has so many pieces that can't fit anywhere in his vehicle mode, and his combined mode can't move much at all. Add to that the $40 price tag, and you're better off just getting either Magnus OR Prime- I wouldn't recommend both unless you're a completist.

Review by Beastbot

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